Her History

Arlene B. Nichols Moss, chairwoman of the DAR Committee, envisioned a statue similar to one she had seen in Portland, Oregon by the Denver sculptor Alice Cooper. In Washington Park, it features Sacagawea, the Shoshone Native American woman who helped guide Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their search for a water route to the Pacific Ocean. An acquaintance recommended the sculptor August Leimbach of St. Louis, Missouri.

In the Summer 1928 issue of The Federal Illustrator Magazine, Leimbach described his work. "The monument, 'The Madonna of the Trail' was modeled for art-stone (granite) and done in a time less than a month, to be placed in 12 states, from Maryland to California as a trail marker on the old National Trails.

"The idea I had, when I modeled the design was this: The pioneer mother with her children was waiting for the father at their blockhouse in the wild West, for the father did not come home as he had promised. She, believing him to be in danger, put her little child in a blanket, grasped the gun and with the boy ran out in the field to look for the father.

"The gun is sketched from the gun of Daniel Boone, with his carvings on the shaft. On the ground is prairie grass and cactus brushes, also arrowheads, and on one side in the shadows, there is visible in the original, a rattlesnake, partly covered by grass.

"When I was a schoolboy in the old country, the American History of the pioneer days made a deep impression on me. I thought often of those who had left the old home and all that was dear to them and had come to this country to find a field for their ambition.

"When I came to America, I often saw these people of the pioneer type, strong and brave and always ready to protect themselves against any danger. Asked to make a sketch model for a monument o fa woman of pioneer days, I was inspired by my own impression of these people I had met, and the Madonna of the Trail is the result."

 

 

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